Method and apparatus for accessing and interacting with an internet web page

ABSTRACT

A facility is provided for interfacing the Internet with a telecommunications network and vice versa so that a user who does not have access to the Internet may, nevertheless, provide a Web page and update the Web page via the telecommunications network and so that a user may access the telecommunications network via the Internet.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a divisional of the U.S. patent applicationhaving a Ser. No. 08/870,253 and filed on Jun. 6, 1997 now U.S. Pat. No.6,335,928.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention is directed to a system which interfaces atelecommunications device with a World-Wide-Web page and whichinterfaces a device connected to the World Wide Web withtelecommunications facilities.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In recent years, Internet-based services/applications, especiallyservices which provide information via the World Wide Web (hereinafteralso the “Web”) as so-called Web pages, have experienced considerablegrowth. In fact, a large number of companies and individuals now haveso-called Web sites that may be accessed via the Web. Moreover, more andmore users are obtaining personal computers equipped with theappropriate hardware and software so that they can “browse” the Web toobtain information from various Web sites. The information that issupplied by a Web site may be volatile in some respects—meaning that itmay quickly become outdated and, therefore, may need to be updatedperiodically. Thus, the owner of a Web site/page will access his Webpage in a conventional way using a personal computer or the like andupdate the information that the site downloads to a user that accessesthe Web page. For example, if the Web page is a menu associated with aparticular restaurant, then the Web-page owner using a personal computer(equipped with the appropriate software and hardware) will access hisWeb page/site via the Web and interact with software defining thesite/page to update the menu.

Based on the foregoing, it appears that it would be difficult for aperson who does not know how to use or does not have access to apersonal computer or the like to independently maintain a Web page/site.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is apparent from the foregoing that a user needs a personal computeror similar apparatus equipped with the appropriate hardware (e.g., amodem) and Web browser software (e.g., Netscape Navigator) to access theweb. The user would also need other software to maintain a Website/page. Disadvantageously, then, a person who does not have thesethings cannot access the Web or maintain a Web site/page. We deal withthis problem, in accordance with an aspect of the invention by providinga system platform that interacts with a subscriber's Web site/page inaccordance with instructions received from the subscriber via aconventional telephone line. Accordingly, then, a subscriber of theinventive service only needs to have access to a conventional telephonestation set or the like, e.g., facsimile, and place a call to theplatform, and interact with the platform in order change/update theinformation that the subscriber's Web site/page supplies to a user whoaccesses the site/page via the Web. Alternatively, a subscriber mayaccess conventional telecommunications services via the Web and aparticular Web page/service supported by the inventive system, inaccordance with another aspect of the invention. In this sense then, theinventive system platform provides an interface between the World WideWeb (Internet) and the public switched telephone network.

These and other aspects of the claimed invention will become apparentfrom the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system platform in which the principlesof the invention may be practiced;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram defining an exemplary embodiment of theinteraction between the system platform and a caller, in accordance withthe principles of the invention;

FIG. 3A is a flow diagram further defining an exemplary embodiment ofthe interaction between the system platform and a caller, in accordancewith the principles of the invention;

FIG. 3B is a flow diagram yet further defining an exemplary embodimentof the interaction between the system platform and a caller, inaccordance with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram further still defining an exemplary embodimentof the interaction between the system platform and a caller, inaccordance with the principles of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is an illustrative example of the fields included in a broadcastmessage service form in accordance with the principles of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An illustrative embodiment of the invention provides a system platform,FIG. 1, by which a subscriber (hereinafter also “user”) having access toa conventional telephone station set may access Web-based applicationswithout the need for a personal computer (PC) or the like and browsersoftware. As used herein, the term telephone station set is defined asany communications device, with or without an alphanumeric display, suchas, by way of a nonlimiting example, a conventional telephone stationset, terminal, PC having telecommunications capabilities, an analogcellular telephone, a digital cellular phone with or without PersonalCommunication Services (PCS), a wireless phone, a wired (corded) phone,a personal digital assistant (PDA) (such as the Apple NEWTON™), a pager,an ASCII terminal, a PC without a browser, and the like. Thealphanumeric display may be an LED, LCD, CRT, active matrix, or anyother display device capable of displaying alphanumeric characters.

It is seen from FIG. 1 that system platform 500 includes, inter alia,service platform 100, application software memory 150 and a plurality ofservice circuits adapted to interface a particular applicationcharacterized by a respective software program that is stored with otherapplication/service programs on memory 150 with telephone station 230 orcomputer 225. Such service circuits includes a plurality of conventionalText-To-Speech (TTS) processor circuits 140 which translate text intovoice signals, a plurality of conventional voice circuits 160 whichrecord, digitize and play back speech and other audio frequency sounds,a plurality of conventional Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) circuits170 which interpret speech signals received from a caller, and aplurality of conventional ISDN Basic Rate Interface (BRI) circuits 180which provide an interface between system platform 500 and the PublicSwitched Telephone Network (PTSN). The service circuits exchange analoginformation (e.g., an announcement) with each other via assignedchannels (time slots) of bus 130 (also identified as the “analog” bus)and communicate with service platform 100 over respective control anddata channels of bus 125 (also identified as the “data” bus). Systemplatform 500 also includes a conventional TCP/IP connectivity processorwhich provides an interface between service platform 100 and World WideWeb (WWW) server 190 connected to the Internet 200.

Assume that a user having access to station 230 operates a particulartype of business and maintains a Web page on WWW server 190 thatprovides information about that business, e.g., a price list of goodssold by the business. Also assume that the business is planning to run asale at price reductions of 25% on selected items and 10% on all otheritems sold by business. Further assume that the user at station 230 doesnot have to a PC to access and update his Web page regarding the plannedsale. Irrespective of that limitation, the user may, nevertheless,access his Web page via station set 230, Public Switched TelephoneNetwork (PSTN) 300 and system platform 500. Specifically, in order do soall that the user needs to do is to place station 230 in an off-hookstate and, responsive to hearing dial tone returned by PSTN 300, dial atelephone number associated with the user' system 500 subscription,e.g., a so-called 800 telephone number such as 1-800-EASYADS. Systemplatform 500 in response to receipt of the call via one of the idle callpaths 300-1 through 300-n will then interact with the caller and allowthe caller to access his Web page and update the Web page if the callerwishes to do so. That is, each of the circuits 180-1 through 180-npresents a conventional ISDN Basic Rate Interface to PSTN 300, such thatPSTN 300 forwards a calls to platform 500 by selecting an idle one ofthe paths 300-1 through 300-n and routes the call over that path, e.g.,path 300-1. PSTN 300 does so in a conventional manner by sendingsignaling information relating to the incoming call over an idlesignaling channel and forwarding the actual call over one of the two Bchannels associated with the signaling channel. Such signalinginformation includes the called number. When the signaling informationfor the incoming call is received at the idle BRI 180 i, then that BRIinserts the received information in an appropriate data message andsends the message to service platform 100 via an a bus 125 control/datachannel assigned to that BRI, e.g., BRI 180-1.

A flow diagram defining the interaction between system platform 500 andthe caller is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3A-3B. Service platform 100, inaccordance with block 1001 of the flow chart of FIG. 2 invokes theservice application based on the contents of the received DNIS. That is,platform 100 derives the identity of the desired service from thecontents of the DNIS and associates a copy of that application with theincoming call (block 1002), in which the application is stored inapplication software memory 150. A flow chart of the service whichallows a subscriber to access and update his Web page via atelecommunications path, i.e., from a telephonic device, is shown inFIGS. 3A-3B. Specifically, when a copy of the application is invoked toserve the incoming call, the application selects an idle T/S processor140 i, e.g., 140-1, and sends that processor the text of a greeting thatis to be returned to the calling party (block 2001). The application viaplatform 100 does this by sending such text in a data message to T/Sprocessor 140-1 in bus 125 control and data channel assigned to T/S140-1. In addition, platform 100 also selects a bus 130 idle channelthat is to be used to transmit the translated speech to BRI 180-1.Platform 100 sends a “listen” message to BRI 180-1 directing thatchannel to scan the bus 130 channel that will be carrying the translatedspeech. T/S processor 140-1 upon receipt of the message translates thetextual portion of the message into speech and outputs the speech to theidentified bus 130 channel. BRI 180-1, in turn, reads the speech fromthat channel and transmits the speech over ISDN path 300-1.

The application (block 2002), in a similar manner, then transmits (viaT/S processor 140-1 and BRI 180-1) a prompt to the caller requesting thecaller to enter a so-called advertiser ID. The application then directsBRI 180-1 to output speech received from the call to a selected channelof bus 130 and directs an idle one of the ASR (Automatic SpeechRecognition) circuits 170 i, e.g., 170-1 to perform a conventional ASRfunction with respect to speech appearing on that channel and supply theresult to platform 100. When the caller verbally enters his advertiserID (block 2003) and it is received by BRI 180-1 and outputted to theselected bus 130 channel, ASR 170-1 removes the speech from that channeland subjects the speech to a conventional ASR process. ASR 170-1 outputsa digital representation of the result to the control/data channel 125assigned to ASR 170-1 upon completing that process. In a similar manner,the application process (block 2004) then transmits a prompt requestingthat the caller enter his Personal Identification Number (PIN). When thecaller responds (block 2005) and such response has been processed by ASR170-1, then the application program (block 2006) checks the validity ofthe caller's entries. (Note that in the FIGS., SP means systemplatform.) If the entries are found to be invalid (block 2007), then theapplication program records the calling number (block 2007-1) and thendirects BRI 180-1 via the assigned control/data channel to disconnect(block 2007-2) from the call. (It is noted, that in the alternative, theprogram could be arranged to loop through blocks 2002 through 2006 anumber of times and if the caller's entries are still not valid, thenthe program would proceed to disconnect from the call.)

Assuming that the caller's entries are found to be valid, then theprogram (block 2008) in a similar manner transmits a prompt requestingthat the caller enter his update. Similarly, the program then directs anidle ASR 170 i, e.g., ASR 170-2 to monitor a selected channel and toperform an ASR function on speech signals that are received over thatchannel. Similarly, the application program directs BRI 180-1 to outputthe caller's response to the selected channel when it is received. Whenthe caller's update has been received and converted to text by ASR 170-2and supplied to platform 100 via bus 125, then the application program(block 2011) checks to see if the caller's subscription indicatesverification of the update before it is posted to the caller's Web page.If so, then the program “plays back” the caller's update. The program(blocks 2011-1 and 2011-2) does this by selecting an idle T/S processor140 i, e.g., processor 1403, sending the textual update to thatprocessor via the bus 125 control/data channel assigned to thatprocessor with a message to output the translated speech to a selectedchannel of bus 130. The program via platform 100 also notifies BRI 140-1to read the speech from the latter channel and output it to ISDN path300-1. The program also transmits a confirmation request to the callerin the manner discussed above. When the response has been received andprocessed as described above, the program (block 2011-3) checks see ifthe confirmation is affirmative. If not, then the program returns toblock 2008. If so, then the program (block 2012), through serviceplatform 100, sends the text update in a text message also containing atransaction identifier and advertiser ID to conventional TCP/IPprocessor 120 via path 121. TCP/IP processor 120 converts the message toa form that conforms with the TCP/IP protocol and sends the result toWWW server 190 via path 122.

For clarity and conciseness the actions taken by WWW server 190 inresponse to receipt of the message is shown as dotted block 2013 in linewith the application program. Upon receipt of the message (block 2013-1)from system platform 500, WWW server 190 uses the caller's enteredadvertiser ID (block 2013-2) to locate in associated memory (not shown)the caller's stored Web page. WWW server 190 (block 2013-3) then updatesthe web page in a conventional manner and then returns (block 2013-4) averification message containing the transaction ID to platform 100 viaTCP/IP processor 120. The application program (block 2014) then sendsconfirmation text to an idle one of the T/S processors 140 withinstructions to output the resulting translated speech to a selectedchannel of bus 130. The application program also instructs BRI 180-1 toread the speech from that channel and transmit the speech to the callervia ISDN path 300-1. The program then exits and, in doing so, instructsBRI 180-1 to terminate the call. BRI 180-1, in turn, sends anappropriate message in the D signal channel of path 300-1 instructingthe PSTN switch connected to path 300-1 to terminate the call.

As mentioned above, a subscriber may access conventionaltelecommunications services via the Web (Internet) 200 and a particularWeb page/service supported by the inventive system, in accordance withanother aspect of the invention. In this sense then, the inventivesystem platform provides an interface between the digital based WorldWide Web (Internet) and the voice based public switched telephonenetwork. One application which illustrates the feature of accessingtelecommunication serves via the Web is shown in FIG. 4.

Specifically, a subscriber that desires to access a particulartelecommunications service, e.g., broadcasting a telephone message to anumber of different telephone numbers, may do so by “bringing up” on anassociated PC, e.g., PC 225, a so-called Internet browser program. Onesuch program is the well-known Netscape Navigator web browser availablefrom the Netscape Co. Once the program has been invoked and theappropriate input screen is displayed on the display of PC 225, then thesubscriber may enter a so-called a URL identifying Web site 190 and thedesired Web page associated with the desired service. PC 225, in turn,sends via Internet 200 a TCP/IP protocol access message containing theaddress of the sender to the identified Web site (block 3000-1). WWWserver 190 upon receipt of the message, invokes software defining theWeb page identified in the received URL, which software returns (block3001-2) a “canned” form to the sender for display thereat. Anillustrative example of such of form is shown in FIG. 5. Briefly, theinput message comprises a plurality fields 5006 through 5009 identifiedby respective field labels 5001 through 5004. Thus, when the form isdisplayed at PC 225, the subscriber thereat in a conventional mannerenters in field 5006 the telephone numbers of the parties that are toreceive the broadcast message that the subscriber enters in field 5005.In accord with an aspect of the invention, the subscriber may enter aso-called “alias” identifying a predefined list of telephone numbersstored in memory on behalf of the subscriber. For example, if the aliasis “department” then the list of stored list of telephone numbers may bethe telephone numbers of other people who are associated with“department” in some way. Optionally, the subscriber may enter in (a)field 5007 the subject of the broadcast message, (b) field 5008 thelevel of priority of the message, and (c) field 5009 attachments to thebroadcast message. When the subscriber has completed “filling in” theform and has entered (a) his PIN in field 5011 identified by adjacentlabel field 5010, and (b) a reach telephone number in field 5013identified by adjacent label field 5012, then the subscriber may “pointto” send field 5014 to cause the invoked browser software to send thecompleted form to Web server 190 in a conventional manner. PC 225, inturn, forms the entered information into TCP/IP packet(s) containing theaforementioned URL and address of Web server 190 and transmits thepacket(s) over Internet 200. Upon receipt of the packet(s), Web server190 (block 3001-3) supplies the packet(s) to processor 120 via path 122.Processor 120 converts a packet(s) from one that conforms with theTCP/IP protocol to a data message having a format recognized by serviceplatform 100. Processor 120 then supplies the reformatted message toservice platform 100 via 121.

Service platform 100, responsive to receipt of that message, unloads thecontents of form field 5011 to determine the validity of the entered PINin a conventional manner, i.e., compares the PIN against a list of validpins. If the pin is not valid, then service platform 100 discards themessage. Otherwise, it stores the message in memory 150 in associationwith the subscriber's PIN. Service platform 100 then checks the contentsof priority field 5008 and sets a message processing priority indicatorbased on such contents. That is, if the contents of field 5008 indicatelow priority, e.g., by a value of one, then service platform 100broadcasts the message during an “unbusy” hour, e.g., non-businesshours. If the such contents indicate high priority, e.g., by a value offive, then service platform 100 will broadcast the message immediately.Assume the latter case for the present illustrative example. In thatcase, then, Service platform 100 (block 3002) selects an idle T/Sprocessor 140 i, e.g., 140-4, and sends the contents of the subjectfield 5007, attachments field 5009 (if any) and message field 5005 toT/S processor 140-4 with instructions to store the converted speech inlocal memory. Service platform 100 then checks the subscriber'ssubscription to determine if subscriber has also subscribed to averification feature. If not (block 3003), then the application programproceeds to block 3004. Otherwise, the application program (block3003-1) selects an idle BRI circuit 180 i, e.g., BRI circuit 180-5, andsends instructions to that circuit via bus 125 to place a telephone callto the telephone number entered in field 5013 of the received form.(Note, if the subscriber did not enter such telephone number, then, as adefault, a call is placed to the subscriber's telephone number containedin the subscriber's subscription record.) When the call is answered andis so detected by BRI 180-5, then BRI 180-5 notifies service platform100 of that fact in a conventional manner via bus 125. At that point,service platform 100 instructs a voice circuit, VC 160-1, to output theconverted speech to a selected channel of bus 130, and instructs BRIcircuit 180-5 to read the speech from that channel of bus 130 andtransmit the speech to the subscriber. When the last of the speechsignals have been so transmitted and voice circuit VC 160-1 has notifiedservice platform 100 of that fact, then service platform 100, undercontrol of the application program, instructs that circuit to unload apredefined verification announcement from its local memory and outputthe message to a selected channel of bus 130. Similarly, the programinstructs BRI circuit 180-5 to remove the announcement from bus 130 andtransmit it to the subscriber. One such verification message may be, forexample, “If the broadcast message is correct press one, otherwise presstwo”. The program then waits for receipt of the subscriber's response.If the program receives a value of one from the subscriber via BRIcircuit 180-5 and bus 125, or doesn't receive a response within aprescribed period of time from the playing of the announcement, e.g., 10seconds, then program proceeds to block 3004. If, on the hand theprogram receives a value of two, then the program returns to block 3002to repeat the text to speech translation. (Note that if the subsequentdetermination at block 3003-2 results in the subscriber entering a two,indicating that the message is again unacceptable to the subscriber,then the program will retransmit form 5000 to the subscriber forre-entry if the subscriber so desires.)

At block 3004, the program terminates the call to the subscriber andthen instructs BRI circuit 180-5 to place a call to the first telephonenumber contained in field 5006 of the entered form. When BRI circuit180-5 places the call and detects that the call is answered (block3005), it notifies service platform 100 of that fact via bus 125. Theprogram (block 3006) then selects an idle Voice Circuit 160, e.g., VC160-1, to output the voice signal to bus 130 and instructs BRI circuit180-5 to read bus 150 and transmit the voice signal to the calledstation. When the last of such speech has been so transmitted then atrailer to the message playing a closing greeting, e.g., “thank you forlistening to this message”, is transmitted to the called station. If thecall is not answered, then the program places the called number at theend of the list of telephone numbers contained in field 5006. Theprogram (block 3007) then checks to see if it has sent the message toeach of the telephone numbers contained in field 5006. The program alsochecks to see if it has attempted to complete a call to all unansweredlocations for the prescribed number of times as determined by respectiveattempt counters associated with such calls. If not, then the programreturns to block 3004 to place a call to the next telephone number onthe list. If so, then the program (block 3008) forms a messagecontaining (a) the subscriber electronic mail address, (b) informationindicating that the broadcast has been completed and (c) informationidentifying the failed telephone numbers (if any). The program thencauses service platform 100 to send the message to the subscriber asso-called electronic mail via conventional TCP/IP processor 120 and WWWserver 190 (block 3009).

The foregoing is merely illustrative of the principles of the invention.Those skilled in the art will be able to devise numerous arrangements,which, although not explicitly shown or described herein, neverthelessembody those principles that are within the spirit and scope of theinvention. For example, a user may access a Web page defining atelephone directory, for example, the “Yellow pages” and select namesand telephone numbers from the directory, direct system platform 500place calls to the selected telephone numbers in the manner discussedand read a prescribed announcement to each called party. As anotherexample, system platform 500 may be arranged to accept a response fromthe called party and then deliver the response and called number to theuser via the server 190 and the Internet.

1. A service platform connected to the Internet and to a telecommunications network comprising: first apparatus for interfacing said service platform with the Internet so that a first user may access the telecommunications network via the Internet, and, responsive to receipt of a request from said first user to broadcast text received from said first user via the Internet to a number of identified telephone numbers, for converting the text to audible speech, placing a telephone call in turn to each of the identified telephone numbers, transmitting the audible speech over an associated call connection if the call is answered or reattempting the placing of that call at a later time if the call is not answered, and second apparatus for interfacing said service platform with the telecommunications network so that a second user may access the Internet via the telecommunications network.
 2. The service platform of claim 1, said first apparatus, responsive to receipt of a request from said first user to broadcast text that is entered by said first user via the Internet to a number of identified telephone numbers, for further converting the text to speech, placing a call to said first user and transmitting the converted speech to the first user so that the first user may approve the transmission of the speech to said each of the identified telephone numbers.
 3. The service platform of claim 2, said first apparatus, responsive to the first user not approving the converted speech, for further transmitting via the Internet a request to the first user to re-enter the text.
 4. The service platform of claim 1, said second apparatus for further receiving a telephone call from the second user via the telecommunications network and interacting with the second user to obtain information used to change the contents of a particular Web page accessed via the Internet, said second apparatus including a third apparatus, responsive to receipt of such instructions, for accessing and changing the particular Web page in accordance with the received instructions.
 5. The service platform of claim 4 wherein said instructions are uttered by said caller and wherein said second apparatus includes voice conversion apparatus for converting said uttered instructions into text for insertion in said Web page.
 6. The service platform of claim 4, said second apparatus for further transmitting to second user over the associated call connection a verbal rendition of the converted text.
 7. The service platform of claim 6, said second apparatus, responsive to receipt of an indication from said second user that the verbal rendition is correct, for further forwarding the converted text to a Web server to change said particular Web page in accordance with the converted text.
 8. The service platform of claim 6, said second apparatus, responsive to receipt of an indication from said second user that the verbal rendition is incorrect, for further forwarding the request to the second user to retransmit the instructions.
 9. The service platform of claim 4, said second apparatus, operative when said Web page has been successfully changed, for further notifying said second user via the telecommunications network.
 10. The service platform of claim 1 wherein said telecommunications network is a public switched telephone network. 